Bullock Museum and El Paso-area Pueblo tell the millennia-old story of Indigenous people in Texas

JULY 8, 2025 (AUSTIN, TX) — Artifacts and a documentary video telling the story of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo are now on view at the Bullock Texas State History Museum. The Bullock Museum worked with the El Paso-area Tribal Nation to bring their story, which stretches from thousands of years ago to the present, to Museum visitors. 

“We are honored that the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo entrusted the state museum with the sharing of their language, relationship with the land, and cultural history with visitors from all over the world,” said Margaret Koch, Director of the Bullock Museum. “Their story is an inspiring Texas story.”

The Ysleta del Sur Pueblo in El Paso was established following the Pueblo Revolt against Spanish colonizers in present-day New Mexico in 1680. As the Spanish fled to El Paso, they forced hundreds of the Tigua people dwelling in Isleta Pueblo to come with them, using them as shields for safe passage. These captives created a new home called Ysleta del Sur in Texas, near the Hueco Mountains where their oral histories say their ancestors lived. Despite being removed from their mother pueblo and experiencing many hardships in current day El Paso, the Tigua people of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo have maintained their government, language and culture over hundreds of years.

The Bullock Museum worked with the Pueblo to highlight Ysleta del Sur Pueblo’s history for Museum visitors after Rick Quezada, Cultural Preservation Director for the Pueblo, collaborated with Museum staff as a Tribal partner during workshops in 2023. Quezada approached the Museum asking if the Southern Tigua language could be added to the Native Languages video, an immersive audio visual experience that places visitors in Texas’ diverse regional landscapes paired with Native languages that are and were spoken in those regions. Working with Quezada, who is also a Southern Tigua language teacher, the Museum identified places from the El Paso area in the existing video that are of cultural and historical importance to the Pueblo. Representatives from the Museum then traveled to El Paso to record Quezada speaking the language, which was edited into the video at the identified places.

Hearing Quezada talk about the Pueblo’s deep historical and cultural connections to the El Paso area while planning the language project led to filming a short documentary for the Museum’s Texas Roots section, which is on the first floor and spotlights communities that have shaped the state’s history since before 1821. In the video, Quezada shares the history of the Pueblo and states his hopes for everyone in Texas to know the history of his people because it is their history as well. A two-minute version of the video is featured in the gallery while the full version is available on the Bullock Museum’s YouTube channel.

In addition to the documentary film, the Museum is currently displaying artifacts from the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Cultural Center, the El Paso Museum of Archaeology and members of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo in El Paso, Texas to further highlight the Pueblo’s history. Two of the artifacts on display are a short round pot called an olla made by Juana Ortega Muñoz, a premiere Ysleta del Sur potter in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and a modern piece, a dough bowl made by Tribal potter and former Ysleta del Sur Pueblo governor Albert Alvidrez. Alvidrez has been working with clay for more than 30 years, continuing traditional techniques and design and preserving them for the next generation of Pueblo potters. Together, the two pieces highlight the ancestral cultural practices that are maintained by the Pueblo today.

Ysleta del Sur pottery and other artifacts are now on view in the Bullock Museum’s Texas Roots section on the first floor of the Texas History Galleries. For more information about Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and its deep connection to Texas, as well as information on how to visit the Bullock Museum, visit TheStoryofTexas.com.

# # #

Small olla pot courtesy of El Paso Museum of Archaeology.

Tigua dough bowl courtesy of Albert Alvidrez.

The Bullock Museum, a division of the Texas State Preservation Board, is funded by Museum members, donors, and patrons, the Texas State History Museum Foundation, and the State of Texas.

Downloads

• Download PDF

---

​​The Bullock Texas State History Museum, a division of the State Preservation Board and an accredited institution of the American Alliance of Museums, creates experiences that educate, engage, and encourage a deeper understanding of Texas. With dynamic, award-winning exhibitions that illuminate Texas history, people, and culture, educational programming for all ages, and an IMAX® theater with a screen the size of Texas, the Museum collaborates with more than 700 museums, libraries, archives, organizations, and individuals across the world to bring the Story of Texas to life. For more information, visit www.TheStoryofTexas.com